It looks like I am late at the party but still.
Melissan, I am assuming you never finished Planescape Torment here. Perhaps I am wrong. In any case, it is directed to you but I suppose anyone who felt Planescape Torment was too boring to be worth playing through might be intented to consider this.
You mentionned that you liked Morrowind and KotOR 2.
Morrowind also suffers from the "no gameplay syndrom" as most people seem to put it here. In fact, there is a common line on the Codex saying you can read / explore Morrowind, but you cannot play Morrowind. This opinion is not mine but you cannot dismiss the fact that Morrowind must look very bland to someone who is used to modern games with high-production values such as, say, The Witcher 2, Risen, or even Oblivion.
Between broken mechanics, slow pace, dull NPC activity and subpar combat, Morrowind without its obese lore would have made for a very uninteresting game, especially if it had had a more casual art direction. You were able to tolerate a degree of blandness to unearth something that "consumed your life". I have to assume it was because it felt alien and unique. There was a "something" that hooked you.
Truth to be told, Planescape Torment is one of the rare games where I forced myself. I wanted to see what was so good about it and the beginning was just, to me at least, boring and pointless, a real "why should I care" inferno. The writing was good, there were some well-thought and unexpected details (the barman selling you your own eye) but I did not feel engaged at all, especially since it was not "my" character.
But so much praise coming from a reliable source in term of good games (RPGCodex, and yes I maintain it) made me want to dig deeper. So I did force myself and as it happened, the plot picked up, it did end up hooking me and I reached a state where I just had to see how it unfolded. Once the beginning is set and once the plot is on open wheels, it becomes much better at getting you to care.
The fact that it is not "my" character played a better role than I expected since The Nameless One more or less becomes your "protégé". You realize that you never play "your" character anyway, and that having a set character gave the writers more narrative freedom when it comes to his past deeds, his past companions, and the fact that he is so anti-glamour makes him more interesting and enjoyable, because you enjoy and like him not for his look but for his individuality, another detail well-played by Obsidian and showing their care in the use of mild psycology.
Another thing that can play against you is the whole "I have no idea what is going on" syndrome. And indeed, you cannot jump in expecting this or that. It is so hard to describe that you are just left saying "just play it, trust me, it will be good". Indeed I had no idea what the game was about. I was just given the disc and, well, I tried. And I know I am not talking in vain and that maybe you will reconsider Planescape Torment because you said you liked KotOR 2.
Now, you didn't specify what you liked about it, but KotOR 2 is really Planescape Torment in space. It follows all the same narrative lines and also enjoys deconstructing the setting it is supposed to happen in. The character goes through similar misfortunes and, irony, the plot takes a while to "unlock" and unfold at a more satisfactory pace. It sometimes just looks like they switched a few names and transposed it into Star Wars. Also, doesn't KotOR 2 begin with you trapped in a space station and lots, lots of non-interactive data from various holograms?
The fact that you liked it shows its much fancier presentation played a big role in your apprecation of it. Since KotOR is a very uninteresting game without its writing (see KotOR 1 to know what KotOR 2 without its writing is), it must means it is the writing's depth that pleased you, and that you just needed a smoother interface, a more visual environment instead of lengthy descriptions, etc.
But, in effect, it demonstrated that you can, and indeed you did like that kind of story. It makes all the more sense to you to return to Planescape Torment, thoughen up for all the production value it did not have, maybe cheat to get rid of the combat boredom and unlock more dialogue options, and overal just let the plot unfold and enjoy the adventure.
So, my point is simple: try harder, it will hook you eventually, and you will realize that the middle and end are much, much better than the beginning. You should really see the end of it, if only to see what the plot of KotOR 2 would have been if Obsidian had had the time to actually finish the game. And, in the second half of the game, every time something will happen or be revealed, you will realize it is completely unlike any other game, and how it makes so many other games look like sad D&D / LotR rip-offs when there is so much more to do, so much personal depth to explore and, interestingly, how drama and emotion can be completely independant from teenager over-emotionality.
See it through the end at least once. You might have to force yourself here and there, but it will be worth it. It may not reach the same status to you as it has to many people here, but you would be doing a mistake not to know why it does.
JK, I think I was TNO just because TNO was never "himself".
